Congratulations to Brett Favre for breaking Dan Marino's all time record for TD passes. Yesterday Favre also broke Marino's record for pass attempts. Two weeks ago he broke Elway's record for wins by a QB. Most importantly, the Packers are now 4-0 and Favre is playing MVP style football with no running game to speak of.

Quite possible. Manning will have to keep it up for several more years though. It'll be impressive if he does break them all. I wonder where Favre's numbers would be if he had Manning's O-Line and weapons?

Be on your guard. There are older and fouler things than Orcs in the deep places of the world.

This is true.

The amazing thing about Favre and Marino is that neither was surrounded by Hall of Fame, or even Pro Bowl weapons. Montana, Elway, Manning - all had or have top tier weapons surrounding and supporting them on offense. Not so fo Marino and Favre, who were pretty much left to do it on their own.

The amazing thing about Favre and Marino is that neither was surrounded by Hall of Fame, or even Pro Bowl weapons. Montana, Elway, Manning - all had or have top tier weapons surrounding and supporting them on offense. Not so fo Marino and Favre, who were pretty much left to do it on their own.

Quite possible. Manning will have to keep it up for several more years though. It'll be impressive if he does break them all. I wonder where Favre's numbers would be if he had Manning's O-Line and weapons?

I wonder where Manning's numbers would be if he were able to play in the NFC.

Manning's TD/game average is around 1.9, which means he'll be in position to pass Favre around 2011, assuming Favre finally retires. Only three fewer seasons. It would take Manning 10 more seasons to pass the interceptions record though, so that one is probably secure.

Quite possible. Manning will have to keep it up for several more years though. It'll be impressive if he does break them all. I wonder where Favre's numbers would be if he had Manning's O-Line and weapons?

I wonder where Manning's numbers would be if he were able to play in the NFC.

Manning's TD/game average is around 1.9, which means he'll be in position to pass Favre around 2011, assuming Favre finally retires. Only three fewer seasons. It would take Manning 10 more seasons to pass the interceptions record though, so that one is probably secure.

-MMM

To be fair, when Favre was winning his MVPs and whatnot, the NFC dominated the AFC. Both Favre and Manning played in the dominant conference in their hey-day.

Manning is impressive. He's extremely smart and always gets the ball to the right place. I watched him play again yesterday and honestly the Colts as a whole impress me more than he does. He just never has pressure and the guys he throws to have nobody within 10 yards of them most of the time.

In seriousness, as a Bears fan I don't have a lot of time for the Packers, but I am glad I got to see him play 3 years ago. One of the quintessential experiences of American sport, the Packers and Bears at Lambeau Field in December.

I agree that his accomplishments are all the more impressive having played all these years with WRs who at best were on the cusp of being in the upper echelon.

I agree that his accomplishments are all the more impressive having played all these years with WRs who at best were on the cusp of being in the upper echelon.

Donald Driver and Javon Walker were only on the cusp of being upper echelon? Sure, Walker hasn't done much since leaving - but then that same argument can be made hypothetically about Reggie Wayne in the earlier Manning discussion.

The past two years the Packers struggled to win games. Guess what you do when you struggle to win - you pass more to catch up. This year there's no running game to speak of, so they pass more, even with the lead. Lack of offensive weapons may lower passing production somewhat, but that is at the very least mitigated by resulting directly in more passing overall.

But my greatest power is this: When Destiny speaks, she speaks to me. She says hi, by the way.

Oh! And I've been killing the bees!

Favre seems like a good guy and darn near impossible to root against. But I've never felt he was in the same league as Marino, Montana or Manning, or even Elway, for that matter. I'd rate Fouts, Aikman, Young and several other modern quarterbacks ahead of him, as well.

It took him two games longer to break Marino's TD record. And Favre never had to:1. Endure 17 years without a decent RB and therefore without credible play action.2. Survive several years with the likes of Charles Jordan and Lamar Thomas as his best wideouts.3. Suffer through 15 or so years in which his team elected not to field a defense.4. Grit his teeth as an egomaniacal coach (whose name might be Jimmy Johnson) dismantled an elite finesse passing offense and substituted a below average power running offense--a fine plan, except he forgot to provide the talent for said revamp.5. Rehab from a fluke injury that not only cost him a year in his prime but affected his leg strength for the rest of his career and probably contributed to the way his career ended.

Marino could and should be so far ahead of Favre that only Manning would have a prayer of overtaking him.

I frankly won't mind if Manning does so. But it grates on me a bit that a QB who has been so erratic--has any top QB ever thrown so many idiotic passes?--should wind up, even temporarily, as the record holder in so many categories.

Not that I'm bitter or anything.

And before you mention the Super Bowl...Favre defeated (actually his team defeated) Drew "Here, intercept this, please" Bledsoe and a crappy Patriots team and lost to a good but not great Broncos team led by a better QB.

Marino faced Joe Montana and the best team San Francisco ever put on the field.

And, oh my God I am sick of hearing about Favre's consecutive games streak. What, exactly, is so impressive about it, other than the incredible, virtually unfathomable, amount of luck that such a streak involves? And what about the stretches when he was playing like dogmeat (something Marino did not do, by the way) and hurting his team because of injuries that he played through?

I can think of any number of criticisms of Favre, and I've listed some of them here. I'll remember Favre as a fun player and a very good QB. I'll remember Marino as a guy whose coaches failed to put elite players around him and whose teammates sucked when it counted the most and who nevertheless consistently picked those guys up, put them on his back and dragged them farther than their talent merited.